Centre des arts actuels Skol

Introduction

Following on a series of studio visits conducted over the summer of 2009, certain thematic couplings relevant to the theme of “Sprawl,” expressed variously as boom economics and urban malaise, car culture and suburbia, and notions of “the west” as both new-clean and new-dirty, began to emerge as a prevalent basis for debate within the context of PAVED Arts. Each of the artists selected have in some way considered “site” in relation to the changing conditions that mark the contemporary Western Canadian situation. In turn, the breadth of the present exhibition, both in terms of the strategies deployed and the politics invoked, is coextensive with the theme, encompassing a variety of concerns that is best related as heterogeneous and layered in character. While mainstream media representations of the prairies tend to be incessantly reductionist, the artists gathered in this group exhibition embody an apparent complexity, preferring to delve into supposedly “normal” situations or everyday phenomenon in ways that disclose strange, often unspoken ramifications.

Terry Billings

In Haunt, artist Terry Billings casts images of wilderness onto suburban forms in a video treatment concerned with memory best expressed as an ever-changing dimension.

Terry Billings currently divides her time between Saskatoon, where she teaches studio at the University of Saskatchewan, and North Battleford, where she is artist in residence. Her video, audio and installation works examine the relationship of nature and culture and investigate boundaries between public forms of understanding and subjective experience. She has exhibited her work nationally and in the United States and Italy.

Scott Rogers

In his series entitled Nearly Every Building In Dawson, artist Scott Rogers attempts the absurd activity of documenting nearly every construction in Dawson city resulting in a complex representation.

Scott Rogers is a Canadian visual artist who produces site-specific, collaborative, and conceptual projects. His work has been exhibited widely in Canada and internationally in Ireland, New York, Minneapolis, and Berlin. Upcoming exhibitions include solo projects at Stride Gallery (Calgary), Khyber ICA (Halifax), A1C Gallery (St. John’s), Queen Specific (Toronto), and group exhibitions including the Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art (Edmonton), Artcite (Windsor), and M:ST Festival (Calgary). Scott’s work has been reviewed in Artforum.com, the Globe and Mail, and C Magazine. Scott is a recipient of grants from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Jordan Schwab

The photographic documents of Jordan Schwab entitled Stairway to nowhere draw attention to the poetic and critical potential of an in situ intervention featuring a three step stairway that leads to nowhere within the landscape of an ever expanding generic suburb.

Born and raised in Prince George, BC, Jordan Schwab left his home town to pursue his BFA (2005) at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC, and recently completed his MFA (2009) at the University of Saskatchewan. Throughout his university endeavours, Schwab worked construction as a Labour Foreman, where his interests in constructed environments were invariably melded with real life experience. Schwab currently resides in Saskatoon, SK, with his wife and dog

Biliana Velkova

In her photographic series entitled The Temptations of Doctor Antonio, artist Biliana Velkova exposes the codes and mecanisms employed in advertising in a feminist critique of the masculine construction of feminine identity.

Biliana Velkova is a MFA candidate at the University of Saskatchewan, whose artistic practice is focused on studying issues arising from the relationship between art, marketing and authorship within the consumerist and cultural milieu. She has exhibited in Canada, USA, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.